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Recently, south of Lake Tahoe last Thursday:Blue Lakes climb (perhaps the easiest climb in the area, but fun and among the most scenic with the least amount of traffic). Taken on a short little "loosen the legs" ride while suffering under a nasty cold, which had a stronger impact than expected on the following Saturday.

Sorry Dalai, no photos from that Saturday. It was 110°F (asphalt reading off the Garmin). Kingsbury, Luther, Carson, Blue Lakes, Ebbets (both sides), Monitor (both sides). The weather made "epic" into a battlefield of misery with many, many victims. I hope the weather is in your favor when you get out here!

Also, this:Fallen Leaf Lake (Lake Tahoe adjacent), an amazing place to take an easy afternoon rest.

tcurtbike wrote:How do those roads work? Is everything to the left (from the POV of the photo) of the divider a bike lane?

HammerTime2 wrote:More to the point, it looks sandy. Did you get a lot of sand in your drivetrain?

This was my very first ride in Dubai. There is a group named Dubai Roadsters sponsored by a LBS that do group rides during both weekends (Friday & Saturday here) and weekdays.

Ride started at 0530 to avoid the heat of the day, start point was the Nad Al Sheba Cycle Track, an amazing bike only track that can accommodate fast cycle routes of 4, 6 and 8Km. The place had very good quality of tarmac, was almost flat and is lighted for night rides as well. It also has an off-road running course to suit both bike+run athletes.

Nad Al Sheba is not the only cycle track in Dubai, there is also a much longer course of 80+km, I think its named Al Quadra but I still need to discover this option in the future.

During Friday's ride we only did a warm up round in the track and then left to follow public roads accompanied by three support cars sponsored by the group and the this LBS (where I rented this aluminum Scott). There were two options, either do an 80Km route (which I preferred at this time) or do the full blown 120km route. Speeds were 38-40Km/h on average on pretty flat (no more than 3% inclines) and excellent paved roads. Riders were very friendly from around the world, as 80% of the people living here are ex-pats.

Driving is done on the right side of the roads. Was a really nice experience and even at this time of the year that temperatures at 40s (Celsius), intense cycling is enjoyable during the morning.

Here are some more shots I took that morning.

Shots from the Nad Al Sheba Cycle Track

This is a quick stop at the 40th km where the 80 and 120 km routes split. Ice cold water was offered by the support vehicles.

Out on the sub-urban roads before heating the desert

This is inside the cycle track. The road on the right side is for support vehicles or so. You can spot Burj Al Khalifa at the back, the highest building in the world!